Conference Programme

Objective

Welcome participants, set expectations, and open the conference framing for science, policy, and collective action on tipping points.

Objective

This plenary introduces the scientific foundations of planetary stability and systemic change through the Planetary Boundaries framework, developed by Prof. Johan Rockström and a global team of scientists. It defines the Earth’s safe operating space across critical processes such as climate, biodiversity, freshwater, and nutrient cycles, showing how crossing these limits undermines the resilience of the Earth system and threatens human wellbeing. The session then explores the science of tipping points — moments when small increases in pressure can trigger rapid, often irreversible shifts in entire ecosystems. Drawing on the Global Tipping Points Report 2025, it highlights the risks of crossing points of no return in major systems such as ice sheets, rainforests, and coral reefs, with cascading impacts on food security, displacement, health, and economic stability. Crucially, the plenary also examines positive tipping points, where targeted policies, innovation, and social momentum can rapidly shift systems toward sustainability and resilience. Together, these frameworks provide powerful tools for avoiding catastrophic climate and environmental collapse and for scaling positive tipping responses.

Objective

Deforestation, land use change, and environmental governance failures are already pushing ecosystems and communities toward irreversible thresholds — particularly in Malaysia and across Southeast Asia. This session will highlight the lived consequences for indigenous communities and young people in the region. When systems shift to allow communities to lead and live with dignity, change is possible.

Objective

This plenary sets the scene and frames of reference for the discussions to follow by unpacking what human systems tipping points could look like – so called positive tipping points – and what could achieve such effects by design or through institutionalised serendipity to get the transformative outcomes we need so urgently in the context of Earth systems tipping points. Positive tipping points are not only moments of adoption; they are moments when new meanings, behaviours, incentives, institutions and power relations begin reinforcing one another faster than incumbent systems can absorb or contain them. Most of the plenaries and breakout sessions that make up this Global Tipping Points conference will explore the potential for catalysing positive tipping points in human social systems across a variety of interdependent domains and intervention areas or levers to achieve a world living in harmony and balance, with one another, with other species and within planetary boundaries. The purpose of this plenary is to bridge from the opening update on earth systems tipping points and their consequences into discussions about how we might anticipate / respond through positive tipping point approaches by providing a variety of reference perspectives and frameworks to navigate and make sense of the sessions that follow.

Objective

Plenary 2 establishes the conceptual architecture: positive tipping points are reachable, and the levers to trigger them are identifiable. But in a world of fracturing multilateralism, rising inequality, and institutional stress, who pulls those levers, and how? In this fireside chat, Jeffrey Sachs brings his decades of experience at the intersection of global economics, development, and geopolitics to bear on that central question. He examines how the dynamics of geopolitical uncertainty such as conflict risk, great power rivalry, and the erosion of cooperative norms can either suppress or, if navigated wisely, accelerate positive social tipping points. Drawing on concepts of thresholds, feedback loops, and safe operating spaces explored in the preceding session, the discussion will propose that strong, cohesive societies are not merely desirable outcomes of sustainability transitions; they are preconditions for them. He will explore the critical interdependencies between social stability, economic equity, and climate action, and make the case for a renewed architecture of global cooperation capable of holding these threads together. The session moves the conversation from possibility to agency: what would it take, practically and politically, to choose transformation before crisis chooses it for us?

Objective

Filmmaker and storyteller Lara Ariffin brings the hidden world of Malaysia’s last wild tigers to the global stage in a powerful, TED-style talk. In “Who Will Speak for the Tigers?”, Lara draws on years of work filming wildlife—and living alongside the Menraq communities who have long been guardians of the rainforest. Through intimate footage and deeply human stories, she reveals what is at stake when a species vanishes—not just biodiversity, but culture, identity, and our collective future. Blending cinematic storytelling with lived experience, Lara challenges us to confront a simple but urgent question: if we lose the voices of the forest, who will speak for those who cannot? Her talk is a call to listen more closely—to the land, to indigenous knowledge, and to the fragile threads that connect planetary health with our own survival.

Objective

This session will feature Professor Johan Rockström, one of the world's leading climate and sustainability scientists, in a discussion on the planetary health check and the status of the Planetary Boundaries. The conversation will explore how human activities are affecting Earth's critical systems, the implications of exceeding ecological limits, and the actions needed to strengthen the resilience of both people and planet in an era of unprecedented environmental change.

Objective

This plenary discusses what global leadership is required to drive positive tipping points? Why is it so difficult to achieve and what is the missing X Factor? The session aims to build a shared understanding among leaders of where Asia sits within global system shifts, and how the region can become a catalyst for positive tipping points in energy, finance, health, and governance. It will surface strategic leverage points where coordinated regional action can deliver disproportionate global impact. Making choices deliberately: systems that resist deliberate reform do not avoid change; they experience it violently, with costs falling hardest on those least able to absorb them. This discussion will bring in real-world case studies to make that choice visible, contrasting economies that achieved guided transitions with those where delay produced cascading failure.

Objective

Bring participants together to synthesise insights from parallel sessions and connect themes across the conference programme.

Objective

Narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, Multi-Award Winning Actor. A visionary feature documentary about how humans are learning to team up with nature to solve our biggest challenges. How to Live on Earth is a visionary feature documentary that explores our vital connection to nature and its role in our future. This ultimate 'how-to guide' features inspirational, cutting-edge stories and powerful cinematography from around the world to reveal how humans are learning to team up with nature to solve our biggest challenges. Heart-warming, entertaining, energising, the film presents a hopeful vision of a future within reach – one in which nature thrives, and so do we. Exclusively premiered at Sunway - the first time in Asia. Directed by Fredi Devas Produced by Fredi Devas and Jonnie Hughes Executive Producers - Jonnie Hughes and Colin Butfield More Info: https://howtoliveonearth.net/